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“Owing you my life...irked me.”
Gio smirked. “And the package?”
I always came bearing gifts. “At your disposal, in a silo near the docks. I put him in a nice cage for you. You can put his legs in concrete, add a few cuts, and he’s shark bait.”
“Your generosity knows no bounds.”
“I know. I’ve ordered Damon to put that on my tombstone.” A well-written tombstone would be my last middle finger at life.
“A few more good deeds like this and before you know it, you’ll go completely legit.”
I scoffed. “What, and turn my back on the Dark Side? I’ll leave that to the Dettas.” Gio and his brothers were an exception to the rule that one could change his destiny. None of the Dettas had followed in their gangster father’s footsteps. We were opposites in that regard, but similar in other matters. Such as protecting the women in our lives. The protection and, as was my case, also keeping them content.
Gio cocked a brow. “You want something.”
He knew me all too well. “I want your woman to take Katya on one of her girls nights. You know, where they wear flimsy dresses, drink too much, and talk about flower power and shit.”
“Flower power and shit?”
“She’s turning twenty-one in a month.” A milestone I hadn’t exactly been looking forward to. Every day she got closer to the day I’d agreed to hand her over to Sokolov. Who knew that apparently there was still a part of me that wanted to give her a chance to live a little before that date? “We’ve had an argument about how she’s never even had a drink. Then she quoted some shit about women’s empowerment and called me dominant and controlling. I’ve killed men for saying less.”
“Youaredominant and controlling,” Gio said.
I scoffed. Look who was talking.
Gio raised a glass at that. “I’ll take care of it.”
We talked a bit about our joint venture at Pacific Heights until a knock on the door interrupted us. The housekeeper’s head peeked through the doorway.
“She’s awake, Gio.”
That was my cue to leave. “See you around,bratan.”
***
Back in the car, Damon awaited me behind the wheel. I didn’t need to ask. He immediately opened his ever-present tablet and showed me a map with a red dot on it; Katya’s location.
“They’ve arrived at their destination,” he verified.
I had to keep her away from the mansion for the next twenty-four hours. I couldn’t risk any of my guests going after her in the house. Surviving in the Bratva wasn’t just about knowing the right people. It was also about preventing people from knowing about my pressure points.
I’d never considered myself to be like a crow, coveting and collecting shiny objects. Until Katya. She was the shiniest of them all. Her presence had started out as a ember, hardly noticeable, and easy to oversee. It hadn’t taken long until her flame had turned into a heart-fire, her warmth spreading through the entire house. I needed to keep her the fuck tucked away.
“What about Aslanov?”
The legendarypakhanhad spent the past twenty years inside a Russian prison. He was also the bastard who had murdered every male in Sokolov’s family. The second they released him, Sokolov would go after him with all his might. Things were going to get messy soon. And I had vowed to stand by my mentor’s side. A vow made in blood.
“Rumor has it he will be a free man in a year.”
That wasn’t much time. “What about our plans to keep him inside longer?”
“You mean indefinitely?”
I nodded. For some reason, the gods had favored Aslanov so far. Despite his slew of enemies, no one had managed to shank him yet.
“Not much luck there. So far, he’s been a model prisoner. He’s smart. Doesn’t get any blood on his hands while he rules his Bratva from the inside. Chances of an early release are high.”
Not the news I was hoping for, but it wasn’t unexpected either. Luckily, I always had a Plan B.
